Posted on 11/19/2020 3:44:39 PM PST by Kaslin
I’ve never set foot on my elite women’s college campus, but that didn’t save me from my enraged peers when I announced, “If you support Trump, you are my friend. If you support Biden, you are my friend. If you feel the need to degrade those who feel differently from you...maybe we aren’t friends.”
That’s all I said on my Instagram story, yet execrable messages began trickling into my direct messages from my peers. I was told that I was a part of the problem, and that nobody wanted to be friends with me. I was accused of believing that black people are inferior, and I hate the LGBT community. I was told “don’t expect me to be docile to Trump supporters,” and to “f**** outta here.” Never before had comments made me feel so sick to my stomach, and it was all because I suggested that I treat everyone with respect.
I decided to respond by asking them to clarify their thoughts; I offered my perspectives on freedom of speech and emphasized people’s worth beyond their politics. I cited thinkers like Voltaire, and objected to faux history, but it was no use. They didn’t want dialogue; they wanted a sacrificial lamb.
My peers broadcasted vile public statements about me, and Trump supporters in general, calling us every profanity in the dictionary. I was reported to a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Instagram account, run by alumni from my school with thousands of followers meant for community members to call out racism. The way the page works is community members fill out a form, and it’s automatically posted. This allows people to vent their concerns anonymously and without accountability. That evening, there was a post about me.
The post emphasized that I was white, accused me of being “insensitive,” willing to befriend white supremacists, and gaslighting, and told me to check “my privilege” and that there was something wrong with me because I follow and admire political commentator Ben Shapiro.
The post garnered much support, but the worst part was below the post, where there were thirty comments. They mocked my appearance and conservative identity and said that I didn’t belong at Mount Holyoke and should leave. They were ashamed to share the same campus with me, and that I was lucky that I wasn’t on campus. My views were “disgusting” and that I was “f***ing humiliating.” I needed to “buck the f*** up,” and called a racist, sexist, white supremacist, and other derogatory names. People who were former friends now voiced support of the atrocious comments. Once anonymous, my identity went public, which then escalated the harassment and even led to threats.
Two days later, the incendiaries moved on. However, I couldn’t as easily. People were terrified of being my friend or associated with me. Many had unfollowed or blocked me. People who I called my friends no longer wanted to be my friend. I’ve talked to the administration about what happened to me, and although they had sympathized with my situation, they didn’t do a thing about it. Because of the pandemic, I am a freshman who has never been to campus. However, I am somehow the most hated individual on campus- all because I expressed openness to bipartisan respect.
In the midst of the aftermath, a silver lining appeared: there were words of encouragement from alumni and a handful of students. Some told me they had respect for me for being open about my political affiliation in an intellectually terrorizing environment. Some reached out to see how I was doing, and that they were here for me. One student introduced herself saying, “I come in peace!” and she’s now one of my closest friends. I had hit rock bottom, but I wasn’t alone.
It’s disturbing to think that members of my generation believe that it’s “compassionate” to smear anyone who dares to refuse their narrative as “racist.” It’s concerning to think that the next generation of leaders who preach that they don’t tolerate hate are the same people who spew vitriol at their fellow students with dissenting political ideologies.
I attend college to prepare me for the real world, to expand my worldview. I attend a women’s college for an empowering experience. The real world isn’t an echo chamber, where those who dare to venture outside of the chamber are slaughtered, let alone in an institution whose telos is to question and challenge the root of the way its students see the world. And it’s certainly not empowering to get persecuted for a divergent thought in a community meant to welcome all women.
My experience is not unique on college campuses. There are plenty of angry progressive mobs on campuses across the country hunting for their next prey, ready to wreak havoc upon anyone who deviates from them. However, further normalizing this bigotry will only have a dire consequence on society: no longer are we attacked for disagreeing, but we are now threatened for not only agreeing to disagree respectively but suggesting we do so. This omen is why I plan to stand up against these bullies and will do so until it’s no longer dangerous to have variant political beliefs.
College has become a political cult.
No dissent. Resistance is futile. Unity equals compliance.
I was told that I was a part of the problem, and that nobody wanted to be friends with me. I was accused of believing that black people are inferior, and I hate the LGBT community.
Suck it up buttercup. What other people think about is irrelevant, what you think about you is so if this type of crap from other folks offends you then you are part of the problem because you have serious issues.
First mistake......assuming you’re talking to reasonable entities. They are not. Butt, they probably still use the “NOH8” cutesie fb avatar.
Become a plumber or electrician. Honest work for six figures and a better class of peers.
So, did she learn how wrong she was in her original premise?
All viewpoints are not “equal”.
These people are not what they are pretending to be.
So don’t use Instagram, Lela. Problem solved. Learn anything from all this?
It’s not merely cancel culture. It’s cankle culture!
Actually, such things should be offensive to just about anybody who walks on two feet.
On the other hand, I actually was amused when some Low-IQ fascist on Twatter wished my whole family would get COVID and die because I happened to support having a normal Thanksgiving.
Her best recourse is to cancel all social media accounts and live her life as a normal person.........
Actually, such things should be offensive to just about anybody who walks on two feet.
Not really. You have to consider the source and folks that say these types of things are idiots driven by emotion and have no understanding of reality.
I wouldn’t pity them either, they deserve whatever ends up happening to them.
This is truly unfair for young adults.
I can’t help but feel we’re all responsible for this — not putting down the Rats that have created this toxic, cancel culture.
I used to do work at My Holyoke. And Smith.
Mount Holyoke women were very serious. Smith students were a lot of fun.
I once did a photo shoot of athletes at one of those schools. They type where you get a player from each team arranged around the sign at the entrance. I took the photo and made suggestions an how tomhd the sticks and what not. But the manager put everyone in their positions.
The administration never used it because of how I placed the minority women. “Couldn’t I see that?”
I laughed and told them I took the picture and made sure they were where the media director placed them. I suggested they give their media guy some diversity training.
To this day, I would bet money that if I showed people the picture they could not explain what is “wrong” with it.
I dropped them as a client that year.
Nice athletic staff and good kids. But way too woke for me.
Go learn how to weld, sweetie. You will be nappier.
“... I was reported to a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)”
It’s like the LGBTQ...they’re going to have to keep adding letters to show their ideological purity.
Life was so much simpler when I was going to college.
In the 1750’s an entrance exam to college consisted of being able to read and write Greek and Hebrew texts. gone downhill since then.
And make a whole lot more money.
This nation has entered very dangerous ground.
Just about anything extremely negative is now possible.
How is this any different from Maoist struggle sessions?
This will not end well.
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